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New leader named for Army cyber directorate

Brig. Gen. Jennifer Buckner of U.S. Cyber Command has been named director of Army cyber at the Army's G-3/5/7. (Army)

The role of top officer at the Army cyber directorate is going to Brig. Gen. Jennifer Buckner, who is now assigned to U.S. Cyber Command, Army officials said.

The leader of the directorate handles cyber policy for the Army’s G-3/5/7 office at the Pentagon.

Buckner is deputy commander of Joint Task Force-ARES, which engages in the cyber fight against ISIS, at U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland.

She was named to her current role last June, after serving as deputy commander of operations for the Cyber National Mission Force at U.S. Cyber Command. In 2014, she was named commandant for the newly formed Army Cyber School and tasked with growing the school and developing cyber training.

Buckner is a career intelligence officer whose training includes electronic warfare and signals intelligence courses, airborne and jumpmaster schools, Joint and Combined Warfighting School and Harvard’s Executive Education Program in cybersecurity. She is a 1990 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

The Army has not announced when she will transition into her new role. An Army spokeswoman told Army Times that no additional information is available yet.

The current director of Army cyber is Maj. Gen. Patricia Frost, who has led the directorate since it opened in summer 2016.

The directorate has focused on integrating the Army’s cyber, information and electronic warfare operations as the Army builds its cyber organizations and career field.

Maj. Gen. Patricia Frost talks about priorities and what's ahead for the growing Army cyber force.

By: Kathleen Curthoys

The Army has made a “very significant” investment in cyber as it rapidly formed Army Cyber Command and built its cyber mission force, Frost told Army Times in October.

“I feel very strongly that the Army is truly leading the way in this space,” Frost said in the interview. “I think we’re really seeing that come together now in how we’re equipping the cyber mission force, the operational capabilities we’re putting in our support to our geographic combatant commands we’re aligned to.”